Breaking News

Book Review: The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho)

Among all the fascinating and illuminating things I have
learnt as a blogger is that the inability to develop a
successful reading culture is not only peculiar to Africans, but to the rest of
the world as well. The difference is just that Africans wallow in the CORE
of this mire.

No doubt, reading could be boring- even to the enthusiastic
readers. But the desire to learn new things should rule over everything. And
until we resolve to change our reading perspective, we shall have to put up
with more of the same thing- failure.

For this reason, I have finally set up a page on my blog for
reviewing books… books that are worth it. These books will cover fiction,
politics, religion, and a whole lot of other worthy topics. One additional
thing is that I’ll provide a link to download the books FREE (even if I have to
buy the book before giving it out).

To follow me on this quest for knowledge, you should
subscribe to my blog for updates (you will find a box to enter your email address
as you scroll to the bottom on this page). You may also follow Akinyemi’s
Journal on Facebook.

THE ALCHEMIST

Source: google.com

Of all the books I have read, there is a reason I chose to review
this first. And I guess this same reason made it to be translated into about 80
different languages. The Alchemist is a fable about chasing one’s dreams. And
in telling the tale, Pauol Coelho delves into magic, religion and the ancient practice of
alchemy. It takes the reader on an adventure; the kind that takes you out of
your skin and dump you somewhere in the Arabian Desert, or the beautiful city
of Andalusia if I must be thorough. However, the book is quite controversial in
some areas; for one, religion. But then again, religion has always been full of
controversies.

The story revolves around a boy, whose desire to travel the
world led him to become a shepherd. On one of his “shepherd” journeys outside
his hometown in Andalusia, he has a recurring dream which changes the course of
his life. In the cause of finding meaning to and pursuing his dream, he came
across an opportunist gypsy, a wise and old king who has supernatural powers, a
seer, and an alchemist among others.

Like every dream chaser he faced a huge amount of setbacks.
But the knowledge he acquired from the wise king opened his eyes to the
different lessons he picked up from the people and things he encountered on his
quest. For the record, the old king taught him to recognize everyday things as
omens, good or bad, as they would guide him on his path to fulfilling his
destiny.

“Never stop dreaming,” the old king had said. “Follow the
omens.”

He also told him: “When you want
something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.”

Things, however, got interestingly
complicated when he started learning about alchemy. Trust me you don’t want to
miss it.

The Alchemist draws its reader so
deep into its believable tone of delivery that one cannot help but get psyched up and all prepared to pursue one’s dreams. But one thing of necessity is
to take your right mind along with you on this reading escapade so that you don’t imagine
for a moment that you can actually talk to the sun. For the most part, this
book is a one-in-a-lifetime kind of book, and I will recommend it for those who
need motivation badly, and those who have a penchant for a mindboggling kind of knowledge.

Paulo Coelho de Souza is a Brazilian lyricist and
novelist and the recipient of numerous international awards. He is best known
for his widely translated novel The Alchemist. He is the writer with
the highest number of social media followers reaching over 29.5 million fans
through his Facebook page and 12.2 million followers on Twitter.